The Coalblog has been providing balancing information on energy, policy, and the environment since 2004. Terry Headley is the Communications Director of the American Coal Council and Editor of American Coalmagazine.

Follow

Tag Archives for coal

President-elect Trump will likely start rolling back eight years of Obama administration climate regulations and restrictions on coal, oil and gas development

The U.S. may be on the cusp of a stark turning point in energy and climate policy with the election of Donald Trump, who has stocked his cabinet with a majority of people who doubt or reject established climate science.

Top priorities of the Trump transition team and cabinet nominees — many who disregard the connection between global warming and fossil fuel energy use — include rolling back eight years of Obama administration climate regulations and restrictions on coal, oil and gas development.

WASHINGTON, DC (12.21.2016) – The American Coal Council (ACC) strongly opposes the Department of the Interior’s December 19th decision to issue its stream rule, following years in the regulatory pipeline amid widespread concerns from the coal industry, states, and other stakeholders.

The release of the rule in the waning term of the Obama administration is unfortunate. If left unchecked, its consequences will be far more unfortunate.

Predictably, as with many rules issued by the current administration, this rule will not result in environmental improvement.

What it will do is severely and unnecessarily limit the ability to mine and develop America’s world class coal reserves, a resource critical to U.S. energy, economic, and national security. It will cause massive coal-related job loss and slash federal and local taxes generated from coal production.

It must be a top priority for the new Trump Administration and Congress to rescind this devastating rule, and the American Coal Council urgently requests their cooperative efforts do so.

According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, total U.S. coal production for the week ended Nov. 19 picked up 6.6% year over year to 17.2 million tons, from 16.2 million tons during the same period last year.

For the 52 weeks ended Nov. 19, production posted a 19.8% year-over-year cutback to 739.8 million tonnes, while year-to-date coal output plunged 18.8% year over year to about 657.5 million tons through Nov. 19.

President Obama pledged to wield a pen and phone during his second term rather than engage with Congress. The slew of executive orders, enforcement memorandums, regulations and “Dear Colleague” letters comprised an unprecedented assertion of executive authority. Equally unparalleled is the ease with which the Obama agenda can be dismantled. Among the first actions on President Trump’s chopping block should be the Clean Power Plan.

President-elect Donald Trump could eliminate these five Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations some studies have labeled as “job-killers” that do little for the environment.

Under President Barack Obama, the EPA made individual rules and regulations that cost hundreds of thousands of jobs. Given the high costs, Republican lawmakers encouraged states not to implement such rules because they could be overturned by the courts or by a subsequent administration.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity said it was “pleased” with Pruitt.

“General Pruitt will be a strong advocate for sensible policies that are good for our environment, as well as mindful of the need for affordable and reliable electricity,” Paul Bailey, the group’s senior vice president for policy, said.

Trump will nominate Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the agency down what is set to be a road of roll-backs and deregulation. Pruitt has been a frequent litigant against Obama administration climate rules, and both he and Trump have questioned the science of climate change.

U.S. SENATE -U.S. Senator Steve Daines today released the following statement on Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, President-elect Donald J. Trump’s nominee for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator: ‘I greatly appreciate the leadership Attorney General Pruitt has shown in suing to stop the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and look forward to watching him dismantle it piece by piece as EPA Administrator.’

‘I greatly appreciate the leadership Attorney General Pruitt has shown in suing to stop the EPA’s Clean Power Plan and look forward to watching him dismantle it piece by piece as EPA Administrator.’

Among the countless issues and story lines that drove the historic 2016 presidential election, few if any drew a more striking contrast than the Trump and Clinton campaigns’ respective approach to energy policy, and coal in particular.

Mrs. Clinton promised to continue President Obama’s aggressive regulatory agenda that has devastated coal, and sparked the wrath of Appalachia with her promise/gaffe to “put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business.”

At one of the first industrywide gatherings since Election Day, the coal sector offered cautious optimism about the Trump administration’s impact on the industry after years of challenges.

Gathered in New York for the 15th Annual Coal Trading Conference on Dec. 5 and 6, industry representatives offered their takes on election results that, admittedly, few saw coming.

Throughout this year’s presidential campaign, Donald Trump pledged support for the coal industry, promising on several occasions to push back on Obama administration regulations often cited as detrimental to the industry and to “put miners back to work.”

In recent years, the challenges have been numerous, to put it mildly. Undoubtedly, many of those challenges have been market-driven. But, without question, there have been unprecedented regulatory pressures as well.